“First of all, I would like to say that I was proud of our team in the way we competed in the game. We didn’t play well. I thought our kids wanted to win and played hard and tried to battle back. (We) played a heck of a third quarter to battle back out there, played a very poor fourth quarter and in the end, two big things – four turnovers were critical in that game and I think the ability of us not being able to run the ball as consistently as we wanted to and their ability to run the ball. I think they controlled the line of scrimmage up front. They’ve done that on defense all year. Hats off to Florida, they have a very good football team and they’re well-coached. They did a great job. We had opportunities in the football game and we didn’t take advantage of them. They blew some and we were able to make some plays back and forth but they made more plays than us in the end. We’ve got to have them better prepared and we have to take care of the ball better. It was rare, it wasn’t fumbles it was interceptions. Something we haven’t done very much. We’ve got to recover; we have a lot to play for. We’ve got a conference championship next week. Back to business tomorrow. Hats off to Florida, they did a great job in the ball game. Our kids played hard, we just didn’t play well. We have to move on and get better and I have to do a better job of coaching them.”

On the momentum in the third quarter:

“That game was all momentum. If you look at the game, they started off good and they controlled the first downs and we got that little drive before the half to get us three points and we have a little momentum. In the third quarter we changed it and they got the momentum back in the fourth quarter and we still had opportunities.”

“That was not one of his more stellar performances. We have to do a better job of coaching him. We have to get in a better position and there are some plays that you have to make. He was very emotional before the game and I think he wanted to play very well very badly. Sometimes you try too hard.”

On the locker room after the game:

“I’ll tell you what, of course they’re down and sad but you have a lot of those seniors saying `Hey, you still have a lot to play for.’ You have those leaders grabbing up those guys. We still have a conference championship next week. We have to put this behind us. That’s the thing before you play a rivalry game before you play a conference championship – it’s emotional and you have to put your heart and soul into it. We have to get over it whether we won it or lost it – which we did. You have to come back the next week and play for a conference championship. They’re very disappointed and we had opportunities in the game and we have to do a better job of coaching and putting them in the position to make plays and do those things. It was a very emotional game. A lot of those leaders will pick their heads up and get ready to play in the conference championship.”

On the time of possession playing a role in being out on the field a lot:

“I wasn’t tired. I don’t think that was the problem. We knew what kind of game it was going in, so as far as being on the field a lot, I don’t think so.”

On Florida running the ball well:

“We weren’t expecting that to happen. I don’t know what it is but we’re going to get it fixed. We still have two more games to play. We’ve got to get it fixed. There’s no way that Florida State defense is going to let that happen again. I don’t know – we’re just going to have to watch film and see what it was.”

On the time of possession going into the fourth quarter and how much they had left in the tank:

“Oh yeah. You feel every game when you play every snap at 100 percent it doesn’t matter if they have 10 more minutes of possession. Everyone was fighting hard and this is when you need young guys to step up too, especially where you’re this late in the season and in the fourth quarter.”

On the emotion of this game:

“It’s a rivalry game. It’s like any other game. Next week we have the ACC Championship and I can’t wait to play that. I’m moving on right now. I can’t wait to play Georgia Tech and have a great game there and hopefully come out on top.”

On being a leader like after the NC State game:

“There is so much leadership on this team. It didn’t work out this time, but we still have to move on. At the NC State game it was a little different because it was our first loss and with the national championship talk – there were so many guys that were saying `keep your head up’.”

On Florida being good on the run:

“They had a good game plan. My experience – they used great technique. The way they were double teaming – they did it and I’ve never seen it before and I give credit to them.”

“We’ve got to learn from it. That feeling after a game, you don’t want that feeling a lot. It’s a great rivalry. We just have to make sure that we work hard. We got the 24-hour rule. When we wake up tomorrow morning, we have to leave this behind us. We still have two of our goals out there that we need to get. We can sit around and be sad about this loss. Being sad isn’t going to change the loss. We know we have to move on and get ready for Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship and win that; that’s one of our goals and win the bowl game, that’s our other goal. We will watch film tomorrow and for the rest of the week and learn from our mistakes.”

On the mood in the locker room after the game:

“It’s a great rivalry. More than half of our team is from Florida, its more than just a Florida/Florida State rivalry; it’s bigger than that to us. We came out there and gave it our all. People are disappointed; if you’re a competitor you are going to be disappointed after a loss, but we know we are tight, we are a family, we are brothers and we can look at each other in the eye and know that we gave it our all. There is nothing to be sad about. We know that we gave it our all. But we know that we have to move on to next week to the ACC Championship.”

“They were good. I thought we could have executed (better), they did a great job on defense. They had a good pass rush, great DBs and good linebackers. I’m not going to take anything from them. They did a good job; I thought I could have executed better.”

On whether emotions played a big role in the mistakes that were made tonight:

“Honestly, I can’t say whether it was mental or if it was something they were doing. The interceptions were very uncharacteristic especially three.”

On if Florida’s defense was the best FSU has faced this year:

“Yeah, I think so, but I don’t think that was the reason why I didn’t execute well. We may not have played as good on offense as we have in the past couple of games but they are a great defense.”

On the momentum shifting in the third quarter:

“Definitely, the crowd was back on our side. We finally got some things moving on offense, scored some points and helped our defense out.”